I would like to start a vegetable garden. Any suggestions?
I live in a sub-tropical climate. Think northern caribbean/south Florida. I want to grow produce of all kinds. Whats easiest, as I am not a skilled gardener.
Hi! Well it’s a Great idea that you want to grow a garden. You have many choices since you live in a sub-tropical climate. If i were you i would start simple, as i assume you are new to gardening.
Try Beats, Onions, Tomatoes, Radishes, or turnips. These are pretty easy to grow, Just make sure you water regularly and keep patient! Now Tomatoes where i am from are grown all over the place as an annual, as they will die in our frosts. We are actually the Tomato capitol of the world! (Yolo County) Anyways, Since you live in a tropical climate, your tomatoes may last longer than a year, but they quit producing their best within the first year, so i would probably recommend pulling them out after 7-8 months. As for the others that i mentioned, just harvest when they are a size you want and when you need them! The great thing about onions is they store for a long time. Harvest them when the tops start to die. once they start doing that, let them sit on top of the soil for a day or two to dry the outside. This makes them last longer in storage.
Later when you get the hand at gardening, you can try stuff a tiny bit more advanced, such as beans, corn, Squash, etc.
POINTERS:
Now plants like it when the soil is very loose so they can move their roots around to get more nutrients from the soil, So tilth is important. Before planting your garden, till your garden well. You can use a digging pickaxe, a shovel and hoe, or you can rent (or use one you own) a rototiller or cultivator.
Once your soil is well cultivated, i would recommend amending your soil with a fertilizer, ideally a composted manure. Steer and chicken manure is most common. just follow instructions on back of the packet! Now contrary to popular belief, Composted manure is usually odorless (well, it doesn’t stink, it smells like normal soil pretty much). this is because it has been aged and composted (composting is another you should consider, but ill wait to answer anything about that till you ask 
). Neither does it attract flies, as they have no reason to eat dirt!
Once you have amended the soil, it is time to plant. Now you need to think about how you want to irrigate your garden. do you want to use a simple-lazy way of using a sprinkler? do you want to use simple, yet time consuming row flooding? or do you want to invest in a soaker hose, which is effective and almost no upkeep? Well i would recommend using the soaker hose, if you have the small amount of money to invest. to use it, just put directly next to all of your plants. Water every week, or when the soil is dry, and keep it on until it looks moist. these slowly water your crops.
The row-flooding method is also effective. What you do for that is just dig a trench (also referred to a drill or ditch) near the plants, and water the trenches. This makes it so you are watering the roots, not the top of the soil.
Hope my advice helped! and have a fun time with your new garden!
If you need any questions answered directly about gardening, you may contact me at SamuelMonteon@yahoo.com
start off with potatoes ,as you hill them up it helps to break up the new soil,add compost as you develop the area that helps to bring the worms, then choose whatever you wish to plant and enjoy, remember gardening is a lifelong learning experience, also children who are taught gardening never seem to get into trouble as they grow up
References :
Hi! Well it’s a Great idea that you want to grow a garden. You have many choices since you live in a sub-tropical climate. If i were you i would start simple, as i assume you are new to gardening.
Try Beats, Onions, Tomatoes, Radishes, or turnips. These are pretty easy to grow, Just make sure you water regularly and keep patient! Now Tomatoes where i am from are grown all over the place as an annual, as they will die in our frosts. We are actually the Tomato capitol of the world! (Yolo County) Anyways, Since you live in a tropical climate, your tomatoes may last longer than a year, but they quit producing their best within the first year, so i would probably recommend pulling them out after 7-8 months. As for the others that i mentioned, just harvest when they are a size you want and when you need them! The great thing about onions is they store for a long time. Harvest them when the tops start to die. once they start doing that, let them sit on top of the soil for a day or two to dry the outside. This makes them last longer in storage.
Later when you get the hand at gardening, you can try stuff a tiny bit more advanced, such as beans, corn, Squash, etc.
POINTERS:
Now plants like it when the soil is very loose so they can move their roots around to get more nutrients from the soil, So tilth is important. Before planting your garden, till your garden well. You can use a digging pickaxe, a shovel and hoe, or you can rent (or use one you own) a rototiller or cultivator.
Once your soil is well cultivated, i would recommend amending your soil with a fertilizer, ideally a composted manure. Steer and chicken manure is most common. just follow instructions on back of the packet! Now contrary to popular belief, Composted manure is usually odorless (well, it doesn’t stink, it smells like normal soil pretty much). this is because it has been aged and composted (composting is another you should consider, but ill wait to answer anything about that till you ask
). Neither does it attract flies, as they have no reason to eat dirt!
Once you have amended the soil, it is time to plant. Now you need to think about how you want to irrigate your garden. do you want to use a simple-lazy way of using a sprinkler? do you want to use simple, yet time consuming row flooding? or do you want to invest in a soaker hose, which is effective and almost no upkeep? Well i would recommend using the soaker hose, if you have the small amount of money to invest. to use it, just put directly next to all of your plants. Water every week, or when the soil is dry, and keep it on until it looks moist. these slowly water your crops.
The row-flooding method is also effective. What you do for that is just dig a trench (also referred to a drill or ditch) near the plants, and water the trenches. This makes it so you are watering the roots, not the top of the soil.
Hope my advice helped! and have a fun time with your new garden!
If you need any questions answered directly about gardening, you may contact me at SamuelMonteon@yahoo.com
References :
10 years gardening and farming, FFA Vegetable crop judging team, etc.
We lived in the Jupiter area for awhile and grew a garden. This month is the time to plant veggies for that climate. The soil is the biggest thing since it is so sandy. We made 4′x10′x6" raised beds and filled with top soil and compost. We used plastic fencing for this but you could also use an untreated wood. It depends on how big a garden you want. Corn takes a lot of space and with those afternoon storms gets blown over easily. Beans, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and much more can be grown. Squash and zucchini are easy but take up some space, 4-6′ between rows. with anything you grow, you will need to weed between the rows and around the plants. A "stir-up hoe" makes weeding a snap. You just rake it along the soil and it cuts off the weeds around a 1/4" below the soil. Weeds with no sunlight don’t grow. Once the plants are around 8-10" tall, you might want to mulch around them. This helps to keep the weeds down and retains moisture so you don’t have to water all the time. Keep in mind that a garden needs an 1" of water a week.
P.S. Watch out for mole crickets. They are a nasty little bug that can devour a whole bunch of roots in one night. Check out the University of Florida’s web sight for more info on these little bugs. Good luck.
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